April 10, 2020: On April 11, 1966—54 years ago tomorrow—the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators 5-2.[1] But, far more significantly, Emmet Ashford became the first black man to umpire a Major League Baseball game.[2] His American League debut came after 15 years of working in the minor leagues and 19 years after Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play in the major leagues.
On that day, he was the third-base umpire and saw little action. But he later described it as the “greatest day of my life.”[3]
Before retiring, Ashford worked the 1967 All-Star game and the 1970 World Series. After retiring, he worked for major league baseball in a public relations role.[3]
Ashford spent his entire life breaking boundaries. He was “the first black student body president at Jefferson High School, the first black man in the Payroll and Finance Division of the Los Angeles Post Office… and the first black player on the Mystery Nine, a semi-pro baseball team.”[4]
He began his umpiring career calling games in the class C Southwest International League. Prior to reaching the big leagues, he worked briefly in the Arizona-Texas League, spent a year in the Western International League and served 12 seasons in the Pacific Coast League. Along the way, many other Pacific Coast League umpires with less experience were promoted to the big leagues. One of them observed, “The only reason he [Emmett] was not brought up to the majors sooner was because he was colored.”[3]
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